Stupendous Thursday!

Thursday June 6th, 2013

Our classroom had more visitors today than we have had all year! Everyone brought a snuggly friend with them to school and our classroom was filled with happy friends sharing their favorite lovies with one another.

After morning meeting, we began our day with another classroom visitor. Lilly had brought with her not only her gigantic elephant lovey, but her mom, Alix, as well! Alix is a type of scientist called a geologist, and she brought with her a fun activity to share with the children some of her knowledge. She showed everyone some of the tools a geologist might need including a tool called a hand lens which is a tiny magnifying glass which she uses to look at rocks up close. Alix not only studies rocks found here on earth, but also what can be found on other planets. She brought a book with her to share with the children about the moon, and we talked about how we study other planets in our solar system. She even showed us a picture of Mars that she herself took by sending a message from her computer to a rover that was visiting the planet!

The experiment she brought to share with us looked at how craters are created. Alix explained that there are many many rocks in space that come from other planets, sometimes from craters making other craters, or from when our solar system was formed. These rocks sometimes run into planets or moons, and this makes craters. Alix brought an activity with flour covered in a layer of green sand. Taking turns, everyone was allowed to choose a ball of different sizes and weights and dropped them into the sand and flour as if they were rocks hitting a planet out of space. After dropping the "space rocks" the children discussed what they observed with Alix.

                                                                       

Our scientific Thursday continued with a visit to our middle school friends in Violet's mom, Kristin's science class.  We enjoyed the wonderful invitation from the Middle School to experience volcanic eruptions. They walked us through this hands-on process and interacted beautifully with the children as chemical reactions were created mixing together baking soda, vinegar and food coloring. The Middle School Science class even sculpted their very own volcanoes using modeling dough and shared with us their idea of giving them to our class as gifts so the Cardinals can try out this new experiment at home. Look for the volcanoes and a letter coming from the our Middle School friends in days ahead!                                                                  

Tomorrow is our Spring Concert - "I Dream A World of Blue". We will be having a full rehearsal with the lower school tomorrow morning and the performance and art exhibit will take place in the afternoon. Please see below for details:

I Dream A World Of Blue
An AFS Early Childhood and Lower School Spring Program

Friday, June 7, 2013
1:30 p.m.
Abington Friends School Muller Auditorium

~ Spring Program Performance Attire ~
All lower school students should dress in black shirts and long, black pants.  Students are welcome to add a blue accessory as a way to connect to our program theme (a blue bowtie, blue hair accessory, a blue scarf, etc.)  We encourage students to be creative with this choice!  Students are welcome to bring their concert attire clothing to school onThursday, June 6, 2013.  All students will be given the opportunity to change at schoolon Friday morning prior to the performance.  
Please note that all students will be involved in movement activities on stage and should wear pants and comfortable shoes (no heels, sandals or flip flops please).
We look forward to celebrating our accomplishments with you on Friday, June 7th in the AFS Muller Auditorium beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Thank you for all the support and help that the Cardinal Families have provided us this year. We look forward to the next few days and the special events that will be taking place. 

Photogenic Friday

April 26th, 2013

With light streaming through our Cardinal classroom windows, this morning felt fresh and bright filled with friends building upon this week's productivity in all areas. We continued our Spring inspired activities with a fun art project that used some of our left over seeds from our plantings.

Then our middle school friends stopped by to join us for the morning. The joy in the children's faces showed how much they appreciate the relationships that they have developed with our older peers.

A few minutes after their arrival we headed over to Gwen's library to read a story about a happy little chipmunk who explores a backyard. As the weather gets warmer Gwen shared with us that there are sometimes chipmunks near the entrance to Lower School and to keep an eye out to spot these furry friends.

Back in the classroom the block area was bursting with added sections of buildings, so much so we nearly ran out of blocks to use!

So they took out the Legos too.

Other friends revisited our collaborative sculpture, adding new beads and using different materials.

Friends also found a teacher or a middle school friend to read with in a comfy spot. Snack was a wonderful social experience today as children enjoyed eating together and having conversations spread throughout the classroom. Numbers were also running through our minds as the children initiated math games with each other and their middle school friends.

The rest of our morning was spent in the outdoor space soaking up the sun! Please take a walk through our day as the pictures tell the story:

Have a weekend full of warmth (hopefully in weather and spirit!).

Wednesday News

March 13, 2013

We began our morning adventures with a walk to Middle School to visit with our 6th grade friends who were having Science class with Kristin Moyer this morning.  We had made a 'thank -you' card for the class to express our appreciation for inviting us to their Science class a few weeks ago to make flubber. The children were happy to see familiar faces and friends and we even planned our next visit together! We were invited back next week to see the Roly-Poly Pill Bugs which the 6th graders will be studying over the next few weeks.  The Cardinals enjoyed making  new connections with our 6th grade friends and they asked if we could reciprocate the invitations and ask the 6th graders to visit with us in our classroom. We thought we could plan a special art activity to share with our Middle School friends that would reflect the learning that we are exploring in our classroom.   We are so happy to see this meaningful connection develop.... so wonderful for all of our students in all of the grades!

Walking in the hall of Upper School after our visit with Middle School, we bumped into Kristina Denzel! After a warm greeting to all of the children, Kristina said that she had a little open time in her science room and asked if we wanted to stop by and see the changes that have taken place in the fish tanks since our last visit a few months ago.  Our schedule was flexible and we very enthusiastically proceeded to the next part of our adventure. The children loved returning to the Upper School science lab and the familiarity was quite apparent! Stella and Kristina pointed out interesting facts about the fish tanks and we leaned that the tanks held either fresh water or salt water. 

At Art with Sam, the children experienced a sensory form of art as they were introduced to red clay. Sam provided the children with a bowl and guided the children through the process of breaking off pieces of clay and pushing them into the bowl. She explained how sometimes artists create something that we can use, and explained how this was the process that led to making a clay bowl. She made the connection between the bowls that we were about to create and the dishes we eat off of at home. As each child molded, pressed and patted the clay, they seem to become connected with the natural texture and feel of it. Children created balls of clay and placed them in the bowl while others used more of a smoothing technique to create a connected surface. Sam explained that next she was going to place them in the kiln, a large oven that will bake them and make the bowl hard. The Cardinals were excited when Sam discussed the next steps of painting the bowls at our upcoming art class.

The bright sunshine invited the children to explore the outdoor space in such a way that allows us to freely move from one area to the next as their curiosity peeks at each new experience in this area! The children are motivated and independent in interacting in our outdoor space which has led to working cooperatively with each other to play games, build, engage in role play or dig!